Network blasted for demonizing ex-'gays'

A former homosexual who founded Parents and Friends of ExGays and Gays says Hollywood’s latest attack on people who leave the homosexual lifestyle reveals how much “gays” fear those individuals.

“They are so afraid of people discovering their sexuality and realizing that no one is born a homosexual and learning that they can actually change if they want to,” said Greg Quinlan about the issue raised by a recent episode of CBS’ “Criminal Minds.”

“It is for this reason that they preach against us with such hate and venom, attacking us for exercising our right of self-determination,” he said.

The heart of the issue is that if people who leave the homosexual lifestyle exist, it disproves the assumption that some are born homosexual and cannot change, the prevailing belief in the homosexual community.

Sparking the comments was a recent episode of “Criminal Minds” that featured a team of FBI profilers that investigates serial killers. In the Feb. 20 episode, titled “Broken,” a serial killer is murdering women and homosexual men in what appears to be a series of sex crimes.

The episode makes a startling claim as the killer is a person who received conversion therapy as a young man to overcome homosexual attractions. According to the characters in the show, the therapy caused him to believe that acting on his same-sex attraction is wrong. This belief causes him to violently attack people, because he is conflicted about his sexual orientation.

“This man can’t accept his same-sex desires, but he can’t fight them either,” one of the profilers explains. “He’s most likely been repressing all sexual urges for some time.

“He is trapped in a scenario with an impossible outcome. He can’t force himself to like women, so when he is unable to get aroused he becomes depressed again and lashes out in anger to the people he blames for his impotence.”

The show portrays members of the ex-“gay” community as ticking time bombs who are potential serial killers. In one scene, a computer screen shot features a report portraying “The Ex-Gay Movement.” The description states that cautioning children to not have homosexual thoughts was harmful and that individuals merely claimed they had changed their same-sex attraction.

“It is obvious that the ex-gay movement has become such a threat to the homosexual agenda that their allies in the media and entertainment industry now feel they have to work so diligently to discredit us,” said Quinlan. “Why is this so high on their agenda? Is CBS now so desperate to try to get any kind of market share in primetime that they have to go this route?

“There is absolutely no evidence behind the premise of the show. It is total and complete propaganda,” Harvey said. “Not only is it discriminating against these individuals, they slam everyone who is attempting to overcome these feelings even though there is no evidence that these feelings are inborn and say your opinions on the issue don’t matter.”

The show claims that conversion therapy traumatizes patients and routinely employs torture. The program claims electroshock therapy is used and underage children are forced to have sex with a prostitute while their parents watch.

“Several conversion camps have been shut down recently because their methods border on torture,” one of the FBI agents says.

In the end, a counselor is arrested while children who apparently had been forced to watch pornographic videos while being hooked up to some type of drug administered by an IV are freed.

The episode aired one day after Liberty Counsel issued its final brief with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals arguing against a California law that would ban conversion therapy. The court had previously granted Liberty Counsel’s motion blocking the law from going into effect.

The law would prevent counselors from attempting to change a child’s sexual orientation, even if the patient wanted the therapy.

Mat Staver, founder of Liberty Counsel, said it was outrageous that Hollywood would produce such a blatant misrepresentation of what occurs during conversion therapy.

“It is shocking that they would be so blatant and so insensitive to simply disregard the reality of what takes place during this change therapy,” Staver said. “They’re looking at some therapies that may have used shock treatment three decades ago that are no longer used. That’s like looking at somebody who performed a lobotomy on someone years ago and suggest that this is modern practice for the conversion therapy movement. It is simply inaccurate and irresponsible for the media to portray something that was done many years ago as being part of modern therapy techniques like this particular episode does.”

He explained the reality is that conversion therapy is no different than any other type of counseling being done today.

“It’s no different than marriage therapy. It all revolves around talking and listening to the client while trying to find out what their objectives and goals are,” he explained. “The client has the right to set their own counseling objectives and the counselor attempts to help them reach those objectives. It’s the same type of counseling a person would receive if they were struggling with infidelity or depression because they had just lost their job or lost a loved one.”

Harvey said the episode is part of a larger movement to portray conversion therapy as hateful while portraying ex-“gays” as unstable people who are a threat to everyone around them.

“The homosexual lobby and its supporters are now deciding there is a desperate need to discredit people who want to partake in conversion therapy,” Harvey said.

She said it’s really surprising, because homosexual groups long have argued that sexuality is “fluid” and people can move into the homosexual lifestyle.

“The SPLC has a map on their website targeting individual conversion counselors around the country,” she warned. “This map is amazing in light of the FBI finding that Floyd Corkins, who attempted to murder scores of people at the Family Research Council, was a homosexual activist who got his information about the FRC from the SPLC website.”

She noted there is a real danger from attempts by homosexual activists to demonize ex-“gays” and conversion therapists.

“These groups do not care about kids, all they care about is their agenda and whatever they have to do to manipulate people into committing violence against the Christian community. Their goal is to make people who were thinking about supporting conversion counseling to no longer support it,” she said.

Harvey said ex-“gays” and Christians should call the network and demand an apology for the inaccurate portrayal of conversion therapy and the ex-“gay” movement.

“It’s beyond jaw-dropping how full of lies this episode is. It is harmful, insulting and people need to call the network demanding an apology to the Christian community and all of the ex-homosexuals out of there who’ve successfully left this lifestyle,” she said. “If they’re going to do a show on this, they need to also do a show on the harm done by groups like PFLAG and others who were pushing children into the homosexual lifestyle.”

The SPLC appears to agree with the premise of the show. On the website the group declares that conversion therapy is “a dangerous practice” and can have “devastating consequences.”